1. Field of the Invention
Methods and apparatuses consistent with the present invention relate to performing an internet protocol television (IPTV) communication service by using plug-in application programming interfaces (APIs) of a web browser, the APIs being independent of an IPTV communication service provider.
2. Description of the Related Art
An internet protocol television (IPTV) communication service denotes a service providing an information service, a video content service, and a broadcasting service to TVs through an IP network, that is, a high-speed internet network. As a communication-broadcasting convergent service is being developed, interest in IPTV services is growing. Activation of the IPTV service may greatly affect not only communication and broadcasting industries but also content manufacturing and home appliance industries.
Conventionally, in order for an IPTV service user to be provided with the IPTV service through an IP network, the IPTV service user may own set-top boxes that are different for each IPTV vendor. Only the IPTV service user who owns an IPTV set-top box manufactured according to the standards set by an IPTV service provider providing an IPTV service may be provided with the IPTV service from the corresponding IPTV service provider. For example, when there are three IPTV service providers A, B, and C, a user who purchases A's set-top box may only use an IPTV service provided from A. Also, in order to use an IPTV service from B or C, a set-top box manufactured by B or C are separately purchased. Due to such a compatibility problem between the IPTV services and the set-top boxes, selection of the IPTV services is limited and consequently, the quality of the IPTV services deteriorates or it is difficult to expand a service base.
In this regard, an open IPTV forum has been recently established and the standardization is under discussion. In this forum, common standards, which are not dependent upon IPTV service providers, are formed and the provision of IPTV services to service users based on the common standards is under discussion.
The open IPTV forum aims to form an interface and a hardware platform which are not dependent upon IPTV service providers and to use IPTV services provided from a plurality of IPTV service providers by users. According to open IPTV forum architecture, even if the user does not own the set-top boxes that are different for each IPTV service provider, the user may use the IPTV services provided from a plurality of different IPTV service providers and thus a range of selection for the services may be expanded.
In order for the user to use the services provided from the plurality of different IPTV service providers, apparatuses for relaying services provided from the plurality of different IPTV service providers are present in a residential network having functional architecture according to the open IPTV forum. The apparatuses may be entities such as Application Gateway (AG), IMS Gateway (IG), and CSP Gateway (CG) according to the functional architecture of the open IPTV forum. These relaying apparatuses receive IPTV services provided from a provider network outside of the residential network and relay the received IPTV services to a terminal included in the residential network.